This invention relates generally to the field of a system and method for processing content changes of on-screen items, and more particularly, to a system and method for processing content changes of on-screen item to enhance usability of on-screen items.
Many application programs use user interfaces which have icons or on-screen buttons or fields to represent features of the application programs, such as functions, commands, menus, files or windows. These on-screen items are displayed with images, text, or both images and text. Users can select an on-screen item to activate its corresponding feature or to access a drop-down list of features of the application program. To select an on-screen item, users can move a cursor using a user input device, such as a mouse or other pointing device.
Some on-screen items represent features which have variable control values. Some control values are dynamically changed by the application program when the mode of the application changes. For example, an existing graphics application program dynamically changes the value of a spin control to reflect the current position and dimensions of a currently selected object. Accordingly, with a change in selection of objects, the value of the spin control also changes. Thus, the content of an on-screen item representing the spin control is also dynamically changed by the application program. Some users, however, do not notice such changes of the content of the on-screen item because they are not directly working on the on-screen item and their attention is drawn elsewhere.
It is common to provide a group of on-screen items in a row or column on a display screen. Such a row or column of on-screen items is called a toolbar.
There may be more than one toolbar on a display. Some toolbars are customizable, letting a user add and delete on-screen items as required. Other toolbars are not customizable. The application determines which toolbar to be displayed based on the context of the application. Such context-sensitive toolbars are sometimes called property bars.
The on-screen items available on a property bar change according to the mode of the application program. For example, different property bars exist for editing text, graphics, tables or equations. The user can change which on-screen items appear on a specific property bar, but the user cannot change the context in which a specific property bar appears. A specific property bar appears only when the mode of the application program is changed by user""s action to use a specific feature. The mode of the application program may change depending on the cursor position. For example, when the user creates a table and places the cursor on the table, the application automatically displays the toolbar for table features. Similarly, when the user is creating indexes, merge files, sound clips, or macros, corresponding property bars appear. Some users do not notice the dynamic changes in the content of the property bar because they are not directly working on the property bar, and the changes of the property bar are instantaneous.
There exist some systems which provide appearance changes of on-screen items. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,835 issued on Jun. 16, 1998 to Obbink et al discloses on-screen buttons that gradually change from an active state to an inactive state in a predetermined sequence in response to user""s selection. The gradual change is provided on a button which the user has just selected. This gradual change is given to provide an entertaining transition to the user. In this system, only one button can be selected. The other buttons are in its active sate so that the user can next select any one of those other buttons. Upon user""s selection of one button, the button which was previously selected automatically changes its state from an inactive state to an active state. However, this change is instantaneous at the moment when the selected button becomes an inactive state. Also, there is no need to attract user""s attention to this change in this system because this change is expected by the user. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,852,440 and 5,564,004 issued to Grossman et al on Dec. 22, 1998 and Oct. 8, 1996, respectively, disclose systems that determines which icons are likely to be used next by the user, moves them towards a cursor, and brighten them to facilitate the selection of icons. While these systems change the appearance of icons without direct interaction of users, they change the appearance of icons based on the determination of likelihood as to which icons are used next.
It is therefore desirable to provide a mechanism that is capable of attracting user""s attention to content changes of on-screen items that are often made without being noticed by users.
When a content of an on-screen item representing a feature of an application program is automatically changed without user""s direct interaction onto the on-screen item, the present invention provides a visual cue that indicates the content change of the on-screen items to help attracting user""s attention to the change.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for processing a content change of an on-screen item representing a feature of an application program. The system comprises a mode change detector, a content changer and a visual cue controller. The mode change detector is provided for detecting a mode change of the application program caused by a user action. The content changer is provided for, in response to the mode change detector, changing a content of an on-screen item which is indirectly related to the user action. The visual cue controller is provided for providing a visual cue that indicates the content change of the on-screen item.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for processing a content change of an on-screen item representing a feature of an application program. The method comprises detecting a mode change of the application program caused by a user action; changing, in response to the mode change of the application program, a content of an on-screen item which is indirectly related to the user action; and providing a visual cue that indicates the content change of the on-screen item.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for providing a visual cue of a content change of an on-screen item representing a feature of an application program. The method comprises allowing a user to select an object displayed on the screen; and displaying a visual cue that indicates a content change of an on-screen item, which content change is caused indirectly by the selection or movement of the object by the user.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.